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Features
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| Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! |
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Chemistry – Sydney’s legendary party night comes to London
Reported by Scott Kemble and VJ Baby K
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Submitted 20-04-09 16:29
Started in 1999 at a club called the Palladium in Sydney by three friends who, among a sea of dire events, just wanted a great club night to go to, Chemistry, now running for 10 years has a legendary status in both Sydney and Manila. Now Londoner’s can see just what the fuss is all about for the first this April as Sydney and Manila send promotion and décor teams to the big smoke and they are set to once again create a magic night! We talked to Pan, the creator of the event to get the lowdown.
What exactly is Chemistry?
Simply put, Chemistry is a night where you can go and feel totally comfortable in your surroundings and dance like no one’s watching. And if you happen to need a break from dancing, there is always something going on, live visuals, insane décor, even people dressed in strange costumes walking through the dance floor. It’s a night where people from every subculture can mix together and have fun.
What makes it different from other club nights?
The little things make all the difference. We have always, since the very first Chemistry, taken great care as to what venue we use, whom we hire for staff and DJs and how we promote our event. Quality production is also really important for a good event. The goal is to make a place where people feel comfortable and are surrounded by smiling faces. We don’t have a “VIP” area or anything VIP for that matter, because everyone is VIP. It’s also really important that there are more then just four bare walls and a DJ. From the very first event I put in loads of décor and different crazy things to look at. Sometime people don’t even exactly remember certain things that were put up, they just remember that the night was amazing. Décor and visuals are a big part of that. It’s why I opened a décor business in Sydney.
You used to run a décor business for clubs?
Yeah, at the very first Chemistry, one of my DJs asked “who did all this?” He ran a weekly night in Sydney called Plastic, which ran for six years over four different venues. He asked me to become their regular decorator. At the time there was only one other group doing décor, and they focused mostly on outdoor trance events, so within a month or two it became a business. I ended up doing shows like Gatecrasher, Godskitchen, Big Day Out and Slinky as well as many big raves, outdoor trance parties and small events too. The biggest event I ever did had 10 thousand people - now that was a huge job.
You started the night in 99, why? And what do you find different now?
I started this night with two other friends because we couldn’t find what we wanted anywhere else. Of course back then we didn’t know exactly what we were doing, and spent way too much money putting on the event, but we knew exactly what we wanted and achieved it. We were actually surprised when 1000 people turned up at the first one.
Sydney had only just gotten the Gatecrasher sound in 99 and the music scene wasn’t as fragmented as it is today. Trance wasn’t stuck into separate genres as much as today. Having said that, we play all kinds of trance at Chemistry and don’t get stuck in the “genre” thing, we just play good music. Also, back then it was before super clubs and glamour clubbing, so people weren’t so much going out to “be seen” but more so to just have a good time and dance. That’s one of the reasons we have kept it running.
Tell us what was partying in Manila like?
When we arrived in Manila, there was not a single night doing trance of any kind. Occasionally someone would put on a big anthems night, but it was mostly hands in the air trance from eight years ago. Many people said that if we started a trance night it wouldn’t work. We knew it would and again, we wanted somewhere to go out. We tried three different venues in Manila and settled on the only one that felt like a real underground club as most of the clubs there are all very posh and expensive – all mirrors, glass and chrome.
Within 4 months of starting the night we had 700 or so faithfull’s that would come to every single one. It was the only place in the Philippines that you could hear any trance or psy trance at all. Because I was the one of only trance DJs, they chose me to close for Tiesto when he was there last year.
What DJs have played at Chemistry?
At the Sydney nights we had all the best local psy and club trance DJs play. Nik Fish, Jumping Jack, Gil, Jamin. We also had Bexta as a regular at many events – she ended up coming to play for us in the Philippines much later and is now on the international circuit. We have also had Deepsky (Jason Blum) play for us, and we brought Jon Little from the UK . But aside from big name DJs, we always like to put on new DJs if they are very good. It’s hard to get a chance to play at events if you haven’t already, so we often give new people a chance
What can people expect from Chemistry in London?
We have a lot of plans in store for Chemistry as we have secured the venue as a monthly location. It’s a great big venue with two rooms plus a riverside bar and the friendliest security I have seen in ages. The two rooms allow us to have one room of pure psy trance and the other trance and psy trance. The venue is also perfect for decoration. There are so many different places to hang crazy stuff! But we won’t stop at the walls. The place will be a UV wonderland. We have a 2.5 watt full colour laser in addition to the ones already there. Plus, we have a wicked VJ – VJ Baby K – who does insane live visuals over two screens. Add to that some crazy performers walking the dance floor randomly and a huge dose of havin’ it trance. For future events we are looking at more elaborate décor, VJ screens and crazy performance ideas. We are also talking to some really exciting DJs, both international and local to try and provide music that not everyone else has.
What’s the craziest thing you remember from a Chemistry Party?
Well, I could actually fill a book with stories about events gone past – but I am sure any promoter that has been doing it for this long is the same. I do remember one time, when I had decorated this huge wall between two rooms in air conditioning duct tubing and had flowing coloured lights running across it. At one point we had someone dressed completely in the same material go stand up on the wall. He stood there for ages, not moving until a lot of people were looking at the wall and the he stared walking. Everyone jumped and ran into one of the rooms!
Photos courtesy of Chemistry. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Chemistry
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On:
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Saturday 25th April 2009
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At:
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The Colosseum [map]
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From:
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23:00-8:00
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Cost:
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10+Bf advance - 15 on the door
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Website:
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www.pan.dj
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Ticket Info:
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www.accessallareas.org
or www.skiddle.com
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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Chemistry comes to London with a Monthly night starting April 25th at Club Colosseum.
This wicked venue has 3 rooms, the main room has a 55K EVA sound system with crystal clear sound throughout.
Fantastic lighting - Lasers - riverview chill room and bar
Covered heated smoking area
2 different rooms of sound
In the summer of 1999 in Sydney Australia, there were not a whole lot of choices in the trance music scene. There was a night called Plastic, and its rival Sublime, which were pretty much the only places to hear any trance unless you wanted to go outdoors to the “doof” scene, which was strictly Psytrance. At the time, both had a bit of disdain for each other. Club kids didn’t get why people would go out in the bush to listen to Psytrance, and the Psytrance tribe were aghast at the thought of club kids in there bright rave clothes and hair gel.
A group of people that enjoyed both these types of events decided it was time to introduce one group to the other, as well as have a party where they could find what they wanted in one event. This is how Chemistry was born.
The first Chemistry was held at The Palladium, which anyone from Sydney’s old clubbing days will tell you, was both an icon of clubbing and a funky, dirty old club. But it was a well loved place, with 2 floors and a big dangerous stairway at the entrance.
At the First Chemistry, the best local Sydney DJ’s were selected from both the club scene and the Psytrance scene, but there was no singular room for one type of music. The style would change with each dj change, and therefore people had to walk around, up and down stairs, in the process meeting each other. The series of Chemistry parties in Sydney actually brought a lot of club people into the psytrance scene, for many started showing up at outdoor parties when they found the “psy” people weren’t all that different, they just wanted a good party too. And surprisingly a lot of psytrance people started showing up at Plastic and Sublime.
The creators of Chemistry have, since the very first event, always put in crazy décor installations, video screen walls and live VJs, had strange and wonderful performers walking through the dance floor and worked hard to create an environment where everyone felt comfortable and had a great time.
One of Chemistry’s creators even went on to decorate all the major club and dance events in Sydney after promoters saw the décor at his events.
Chemistry carried on in Sydney until 2003, and became a very popular night. If you were to ask anyone that was out clubbing in those days, chances are that they went to at least one of those parties.
They then moved on to briefly to New Zealand and South East Asia, where Chemistry again started up a residency at 3 different major clubs in Manila. It was the only night of its kind there and quickly attracted a group of hardcore fans. For when people went to Chemistry once, they almost always came back.
- 200 meters from Train/tube/nightbuses/taxi
tube/rail Vauxhall - Victoria line - exit 6
Buses 2 36 88 44 77 77a 185 322 344
Night buses N2 N36 N44 N77
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Flyer:
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 - 
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Region:
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London
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Music:
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Trance. Hard Trance. Psy Trance.
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DJ's:
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Visuals on two screens
Vjbabyk www.vjbabyk.com
Décor by Panovision
DJ’s main room –Trance and Psytrance
Sly One vs Jurrane (Discover Records)
Pan (Up Records) Barcelona
Andy Force (Planet Angel, Magnetix)
The Lab (Progressive and Psytrance)
Andi Leppard (Antiworld)
Sutekh (Point Zero Records)
Nolan Schmolan
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The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Andy Force on 20th Apr 2009 17:48.11
I simply can't wait for this event! Great interview Pan, the 25th is going to be a spectacle.
From: Cyberwlf on 2nd May 2009 00:52.19
I went to the original Palladium-based events back in Sydney, and had Pan do some great decor at outdoor trance parties I did in Oz. All quality stuff. Missed this last event in London, but hope to be around for the next Plastic he does in London.
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